(Aug 15,2014) Spiritual Message for the Day – Methods of Vedantic Sadhana by Sri Swami Sivananda

 Methods of Vedantic Sadhana

Divine Life Society Publication: Sadhana by Sri Swami Sivananda

Sravana, Manana and Nididhyasana are the three stages of Vedantic Sadhana.

Sravana is hearing of the truth. The Abheda-Bodha-Vakya should be heard from the Brahmanishta-Guru. Then Vedantic scriptures and treatises have to be carefully studied for the purpose of properly grasping the meaning of the great Mahavakyas.

Vedantic Granthas are of two kinds: the Pramana-granthas and the Prameya-granthas. One should always study standard works on Vedanta. A complete and exhaustive treatise on the subject has to be studied with the greatest care. Then only the full knowledge of Vedanta will dawn. Works like the Advaitasiddhi, Chitsukhi, Khandanakhanda-khadya, Brahmasutras, etc., are Pramana-granthas, for they refute other theories and establish the Advaitatattva through logic and argumentation. Works like the Upanishads, the Bhagavad-Gita and the Yogavasishtha are Prameya-granthas, for they merely state the Absolute Truth with authority and do not indulge in reasoning for refuting or establishing anything. They are intuitional works, whereas the former are intellectual.

The mind should be pure and tranquil before starting Vedantic Sadhana. Keeping the Vasana in the mind is keeping a black cobra within and feeding it with milk. Your life is ever in danger. Kill these Vasanas through Vichara, Vairagya and meditation on the Atman.

The Sruti texts that deal with creation, such as "from the Atman sprang Akasa, from Akasa Vayu, from Vayu Agni," etc., are only intended for giving preliminary instructions to the neophytes or young aspirants for they cannot grasp at once the Ajativada or the theory of non-evolution. When you read the passages which treat of creation, always remember that all this is only Adhyaropa or superimposition. Never forget this. Never think even for a second that the world is real. Only through Apavadayukti or refutation of superimposition can you establish the Kevala-Advaita-Siddhanta. If the world is real, if duality is real, you cannot have experience of Advaitic Realisation.

If the impurity of egoism or Ahankara-Mala is destroyed, the other two impurities, viz., Kama-Mala (impurity of desires) and Karma-Mala (impurity of action) will be destroyed by themselves. How, then, can there be Prarabdha for a Jivanmukta or the liberated sage? He is one with the Supreme Absolute.

Excerpts from:

Methods of Vedantic Sadhana - Sadhana by Sri Swami Sivananda

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(July 26,2014) Spiritual Message for the Day – Sadhana – The Main Purpose of Life by Sri Swami Sivananada

 Sadhana – The Main Purpose of Life

Divine Life Society Publication: Sadhana – The Main Purpose of Life by Sri Swami Sivananda

Sadhana means any spiritual practice that helps the aspirant to realise God. It is a means to attain the goal of human life. Sadhana is steadying the mind and fixing it on the Lord.

Everyone must take to some kind of Sadhana to attain the state of final beatitude.

Sadhana is the real wealth. It is the only thing of real and everlasting value. There is butter in milk, but it can be got only after churning. Similarly if you want to realise God, do Sadhana and worship constantly in right earnest.

Whatever spiritual practice you do, either Japa, practice of Asanas, meditation or Pranayama, do it systematically and regularly every day. You will attain immortality or eternal bliss.

If your persist in your Sadhana vigorously and diligently, if you are regular, systematic and punctual in your Sadhana, you will attain success.

Be contented with whatever you get by chance and apply yourself to Sadhana with a dispassionate mind.

Regularity in Sadhana is of paramount importance. He who meditates regularly gets Samadhi quickly. That man who is irregular and does his actions by fits and starts cannot reap the fruits of his efforts.

Keep your mind always busy in doing Japa, concentration, meditation, study of religious books, Satsanga or in doing something useful to others.

Little acts of virtues, little acts of purity will help you a lot in your Sadhana. Removal of Vrittis and impurities is the most important Sadhana. The wandering mind must be controlled by sticking to one place, one preceptor and one progressive method of Sadhana.

That Sadhaka who has turned the mind inward by the practice of Sama and Dama and who has keen longing for liberation sees the Self in his own Self by constant and deep meditation.

You can move the whole world by your spiritual force.

A spiritual diary is a whip for goading the mind towards righteousness.

Selfishness retards spiritual progress. If anyone can destroy his selfishness, half of his spiritual Sadhana is over.

You must get up at 4 a.m. and start meditation. Have concrete meditation in the beginning. Feel the indwelling presence of God in the form and think of the attributes-purity, perfection, all-pervading intelligence, bliss absolute, omnipotence, etc. When the mind runs again and again bring it to the point. Have another sitting for meditation at night. Be regular in your practice.

Write your Ishta Mantra in a notebook for one hour daily. Discipline the senses. Observe the vow of silence. Develop right thinking, right feeling, right acting and right speaking. Eradicate vicious qualities, such as anger, lust, greed, egoism, hatred, etc. He who regulates his life on the above lines, is sure to attain success in this very birth, nay, in this very second.

 Excerpts from:

Sadhana – The Main Purpose of Life by Sri Swami Sivananda

 

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(May 10,2014) Spiritual Message for the Day – Methods of Mind-Control by Sri Swami Sivananda

 Various Methods of Mind-Control

Divine Life Society Publication: - Sadhana by Sri Swami Sivananda

The mind can be controlled by Abhyasa and Vairagya. Abhyasa is constant effort to fix the mind on God or Atman. Vairagya is dispassion or non-attachment to sensual objects.

Enquire "Who am I?" Do Vichara. Do mental Japa of Om and meditate on Atman. All thoughts will die by themselves. You will rest in Sat-Chit-Ananda Atman.

Sit alone and watch the Vrittis (thought-waves) of the mind. Be indifferent. Remain as a Sakshi (witness). Don't identify yourself with the Vrittis. The mind will then be under your control.

Destroy the fuel of desire, and the fire of thought will be extinguished. With the annihilation of Sankalpa, the reality of Brahman will shine. Cultivate divine qualities such as friendliness, mercy, gladness and indifference towards happiness, pain, virtue and vice. You will get peace of mind.

Don't think of the past. Don't plan for the future. Don't allow the mind to build images. Live in the solid present.

Do a thing which the mind does not want to do. Don't do a thing which the mind wants to do.

Don't try to fulfill your desires. Don't hope. Don't expect anything. Destroy the vicious desires through virtuous desires and destroy the virtuous desires also through one strong desire for liberation.

Practice of Pranayama destroys Rajas and Tamas, makes the mind steady and one-pointed.

Study of religious books, Tapas, charity and Satsanga with Mahatmas, Sadhus and Sannyasins overhaul worldly vicious Samskaras (latent impressions) and pave a long way in the control of mind.

Japa of any Mantra and Upasana (worship of God) destroy the impurities of the mind, makes the mind inwards, induce Vairagya, help concentration and eventually lead to control of mind and attainment of God-consciousness.

"Kalau Kesavakirtanam." "In this Kali Yuga the easiest way for controlling the mind and attaining Moksha is Kirtan or singing the Name of the Lord."

Food has influence over the mind. Sattvic food (milk, fruits, etc.) calms the mind. Rajasic food (meat, alcohol, etc.) excites the mind. Take Sattvic food; have Mitahara (moderation in diet).

Destroy evil habits by establishing new good habits. Control the lower instinctive mind through the higher Sattvic mind.

Constant selfless service with Atma-Bhava is highly efficacious in purifying and controlling the mind.

Don't wrestle or struggle with the mind. Be regular in your concentration and meditation.

Excerpts from:

Various Methods of Mind-Control - Sadhana by Sri Swami Sivananda 

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(Apr 20,2014) Spiritual Message for the Day – Everything Is Yoga by Swami Chidananda

 Everything Is Yoga

Divine Life Society Publication: - Everything Is Yoga by Swami Chidananda

Worshipful homage to that supreme, eternal, universal Being, Lord Krishna, who revealed Himself in and through the Gita wisdom teachings that He imparted for all mankind, for all times, through His beloved devotee and disciple, Arjuna. He not only revealed His divine nature through His Bhagavad Gita teachings, He also revealed how man can realize Him fully, can experience Him, and, ultimately, how man can merge himself in Him to become one with Him. All this He taught within the compass of 700 brief verses contained in 18 chapters.

Main teaching

Attain through Yoga the supreme human experience of our essential non-differentiation from Him; the experience that liberates us forever from all sorrow, all confusion and delusion; the experience that liberates us once and for all from a return to successive birth, death and rebirth in this mortal world. 

The four classical yogas are—channelizing our action potential through karma yoga for God-realization, channelizing our sentiment and emotion potential for realizing God through bhakti yoga, channelizing our mind’s power of concentration for attaining God-realization through raja yoga, through meditation, and channelizing our intellectual potential of analysis, logic, discrimination and reasoning to attain illumination through jnana yoga. Here in the Gita we have 18 yogas. Everything is yoga. He covers the whole of human life in His teaching.

Everything is yoga

The central teaching is that, in fact, all life is yoga. Life is to be lived as the great sadhana, the great yoga. All actions constitute yoga. Everything that you think is yoga. Everything that you speak is yoga. Everything that you do is yoga. Life is the supreme yoga, every part of it. 

Each and every one of our actions from morning till evening should have a Godward thrust; they are to be engaged in for attaining illumination. Everything in our life is and ought to be enlightenment oriented. Breathing, sitting, standing, running, resting, working, lying, waking, dreaming, sleeping, all constitute that one single process—yoga. So there are not merely 18 yogas. There are innumerable yogas every moment. This is the great truth about you, about each and every one of us.

May the grace of the Supreme and the benedictions of revered and beloved Holy Master Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji enable us to fully recognize this truth, fully assimilate this truth, fully live in the light of this truth, and thus become the Truth. May God bless us all! 

Excerpts from:

Everything Is Yoga by Swami Chidananda

 

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